


In Me And With Me

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-14
Updated: 2006-10-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 17:39:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12731226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: In this AU universe, Jack and Daniel's relationship alters everything in the world around them.  In this chapter, Jack and Daniel are called back to the SCG to play a critical role in saving the Earth yet once again.





	In Me And With Me

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

  
Author's notes: Very slight reference to Meridian in another universe.  


* * *

_"Humanity is outraged in me and with me."  
George Sand_

A small black and white cat sat in the front window pulling and fluffing the fur between her toes. She stopped for a minute, and gave the human entering the duplex what could only be interpreted as a withering look of disdain. 

"You'd better watch it, Gussie." Daniel Jackson informed the cat, who belonged to his friend Sarah Gardner. "Jack will be back here with Charlotte, the wonder dog, at any moment." 

Sarah had returned from a job at the SGC for a couple of days, and had been behaving somewhat mysteriously. Sarah lived in the upstairs duplex, and often spent a lot of time with Jack and Daniel. Whatever his friend's secret was, Daniel knew that he'd find out soon enough. 

When the cat met his eyes Daniel could have sworn that there was a trace of profanity in that slight moue she made with her mouth. She would have stood her ground with any Goa'uld and not quaked. He remembered the many cats that Ra had left behind on Abydos, how the Abydonians had left food for them even though they were ferial and how those cats survived nicely in the ruins in spite of the cold Abydonian desert nights. Cats survived in situations where people could not. 

Gussie, who was a rescue, had been the property of a wandering bag lady who had left her tied up by the neck in a washroom in the Place Ville Marie. She used to have a rope burn on the back of her neck, which was now obscured by fur. He and Sarah had picked her out from dozens of other castaways in a cage at the SPCA. She'd come over to sniff Sarah's outstretched hand and had promptly hissed loudly at Daniel. He considered it an auspicious beginning to a beautiful friendship. Even though they took care of Gussie frequently, she rejected all of Daniel's overtures of friendship for Jack's lap instead - unless she was ill and then she clung to him like a sinking life raft. 

Now, Gussie was sleek with the most expensive cat food money could buy. She utterly rejected any human food except very rare roast beef thinly sliced, with no fat. This was clearly Jack and Sarah's fault. Between them, they'd turned a perfectly rational animal into a picky being who was as demanding as any autocratic mother-in-law, and who had even cowed their large black and white Border Collie, Charlotte, into submission.

He turned and aimed his keys at the top of the short, round, gate-legged dark oak table in the entrance hall. "He shoots, he scores," he whispered to himself in an undertone of triumph as the keys hit the heavy metal dish in the middle of the table dead centre. The dish was a Hoselton; it was large, dolphin-shaped and a whitish silver, and just the right size to be a very large, overpriced ashtray. 

As he reflected on it, Daniel remembered Sam's face when she'd given it to Jack at a small SG-1 gathering after the official SGC Christmas Party almost three years ago now. It was shortly after the za'tarc incident. They all gathered - Jack, Sam, Teal'c and Janet - at Daniel's apartment. Dinner had been a potluck buffet, which included turkey and all the trimmings, and an extensive dessert menu. 

As Jack unwrapped Sam's present, he turned it around in his hands in puzzlement. Sam was wearing a doe-eyed, expectant look on her face as he stared the dish in obvious puzzlement.

"It's a Hoselton, sir." She clearly expected Jack to be impressed by the present, and sounded irritated.

Jack held the piece awkwardly in his hands, "Wow, it's a dolphin-shaped dish. Ah thanks, Cart- I mean Sam. Thank you, it's very nice." Sam got up and bent in close to Jack, craning her neck into the perfect position for a kiss. As she leaned forward, her breasts were close to his face. Daniel almost blushed at her boldness, and Jack O'Neill turned scarlet with embarrassment. 

He pushed her back with a strong, but gentle hand. "Geez Carter, it's getting hot in here." He rose to his feet and went over to the window.

"You dirty danced with Janet at the Christmas party!" Sam almost shouted the words at him. Teal'c and Janet stared at her in amazed silence. She'd been more hostile to Daniel than ever since Jack and Daniel had been singled out as za'tarc's by Anise a few months earlier. He remembered this with vivid clarity, and wondered if there was something he should have done or known ahead of time. It was too late now. 

At that time, Sam frequently called him "headcase" when they were alone; Jack had already placed an official reprimand in her file after she'd become overly assertive about trying to destroy the Gadmeer spacecraft on P5S-381 while Daniel was trying to broker a deal between the Gadmeer and the Enkarrans. Sam had been, he recalled, very insistent about what to do with regard to Daniel and the Gadmeer, and Jack had had to point out more than once that General Hammond's direct orders contraindicated any such measures - despite the fact that Sam was sure that Daniel was incapable of fixing the situation.

That part of his past was as clear in his mind as if it had happened yesterday. Just looking at the silver dish made it all come back so vividly. That evening, Janet had glanced up at Teal'c, who was sitting beside her on the sofa. His strong face had been impassive. 

However, Jack was annoyed. "It was just a dance, Sam, for crying out loud. Get a grip." He'd said the words firmly, clipping them with embarrassed precision. Then he'd gone into the kitchen. Daniel had followed him and watched as Jack began to pour some 18-year-old Talisker into a pinwheel crystal tumbler. Jack's hands quivered. 

Daniel went over and retrieved the whiskey bottle, restraining Jack from pouring any more. As if confirming the worst of his fears, Jack shot back his drink in a fast, liquid movement. He would have poured more too, but Daniel had replaced the Talisker in the back of the kitchen cupboard and shook his head.

"I warned you about how she felt, Jack." Daniel advised in a low voice; he could smell the whiskey on Jack's breath. "She really wants you."

"Ya think? I didn't ask for it."

"You didn't tell her otherwise." Daniel folded his arms in front of him, beating out an impatient tattoo with his fingers on his elbow.

"I'm not supposed to have to tell her otherwise, Daniel!" Jack spat the words, "She's off-limits, under my command, not available, not ever! And that's the second time I've had to shove her away from me recently. The incident in the cloakroom at the Christmas party on the base was even worse. She's been sniffing around us ever since the za'tarc thing, and now she's jealous of Janet and me. This is just peachy. Carter needs to get a life."

"You should tell her."

"For crying out loud, I'm not supposed to need to say anything to her, that's the point!" 

Daniel heard the soft mumble of Teal'c's words outside in the living room; they were words of consolation and consideration for Sam Carter, words intended to block the fire of her anger. Sam's voice sounded distant and cold, and then Janet Fraiser's voice chimed in, then her sudden laughter thawed the coldness in Sam's voice.

Daniel stood by Jack at the kitchen counter, and leaned back. "So, what are we going to do?" He examined Jack's face, and the feeling of just how much he loved this strong, silent soldier hit him hard. Daniel didn't like lying; it didn't come naturally to him, even with the stark reality of "Don't ask, don't tell" hanging over their heads. What could they do? There were strict regulations about same sex relationships - not that that had stopped or would ever stop the inevitability of their union. 

They were in love, passion and warmth spilling from their bodies each time they met alone. Off-world sex was out of bounds, but the minute they came through the front door at the end of each mission, they could barely manage to make it to the bed for their first, heated encounter. Daniel's psychological problems only made them closer. Whatever happened on a mission, particularly their disagreements, were carefully choreographed marvels of acting designed to ensure that no one might consider that they were lovers. Only Teal'c and Janet knew the truth. After the za'tarc incident, Jack had suspected that Hammond knew as well, but he kept this knowledge to himself as he didn't want his commanding officer to get into trouble when he was simply trying to help out the two men.

Jack shook his head violently and then pulled Daniel roughly against him, their mouths meeting in a searing, unwise kiss. Daniel shoved Jack away quickly just as Sam Carter entered the small kitchen, allegedly looking for a glass of white wine.

She gave the two men, who were trying to look innocently at the floor a hard, intense stare. "I hope you're not corrupting the Colonel, Daniel?" Sam's brittle laughter had echoed against the walls of the small room. It sounded insincere to his ears. 

"What exactly does that mean Carter? For crying out loud, what do you mean by corrupting?" Jack's dark eyes narrowed.

"Nothing at all, sir." She'd floundered slightly in confusion then tossed out as an afterthought, "I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable out there." When Jack flushed with embarrassment, Daniel thought that this had been the way that Sam Carter inevitably deflected attention away from her bad behaviour, by forcing Jack to pay attention to her and her alone. He'd thought that he could cheerfully strangle her. 

"Sure, you betcha.' Forget it." Jack turned heel and walked quickly through the kitchen door into the living room. Carter shot Daniel a look of barely suppressed triumph, although what she had to be triumphant about was uncertain.

"You should leave him alone, headcase," she hissed. She shot Daniel a condescending glance of mixed pity and disapproval. "There, you see. He's not interested in the perversion you're pedaling. He just feels sorry for you, poor, little Danny-wannee. It's just the regs that are keeping Jack and me apart. Jack is too considerate to take chances with my career. You saw how he could barely keep his feelings in check." She sighed with longing. Daniel thought she was delusional, but said nothing. What could he possibly say? Her blue eyes sparked with hostility. 

After the others had gone home from the Christmas Party, Jack stayed behind allegedly to help Daniel clean up in spite of Sam's urgings to go home in the taxi with her, Teal'c and Janet. 

"Nope," Jack had said, "I can't leave Daniel to clean up all this mess on his own." Sam had given Daniel another dirty look, but said nothing. Janet gave Sam a censorious stare and she kicked her foot gently with her cherry-red high-heels.

"You know Daniel always needs help after the party," Janet rebuked.

Sam licked her lips, and gave Jack a long, hot stare, "That's true."

When they'd finally cleaned up, Jack found Daniel sitting on the edge of his bed, shaking and feeling guilty. "I'm going to wreck your career, Jack." Angry voices in his head teased at the edges of his mind.

Jack shook his head and sat down. "Have you taken your meds, Danny?" He asked directly.

"Yes. Of course." Daniel bit his underlip, "but you're career military and you - we shouldn't..." Daniel left the rest of the idea unspoken.

"We've gone through this a million times, Danny. Unless you kick me out of your bed, I'm not leaving you."

"You're taking a riskm being with me." Daniel looked down stubbornly at the oriental carpet on his bedroom floor. Jack put one gentle hand under Daniel's jaw, and lifted it slightly - stubborn blue eyes met stubborn brown ones. He ran a finger down Daniel's rough cheek, and traced it over the pink lips. "I'd rather die than stop loving you, Danny. I told you before, not going to happen. You are so amazing on so many levels. I love you. I've always loved you from the first time I laid eyes on you. Now, that you're mine, I'm not going to change my mind about our relationship."

He drew Daniel in closer for a kiss. The world was on fire, and he was caught in the blaze. A sigh escaped from his lips. He breathed, "You really think I'm worth it?"

"Yeah sure you betcha', on so many levels. I think you're unbelievable. So sweet. All the things you've told me. All the trouble you've saved me. If you hadn't been there, I might have tried to blow up the Enkarran ship like Sam suggested and we wouldn't have reached a compromise with the Gadmeer as easily. I could have hurt you. I'm a stubborn son-of-a-bitch, who knows what crazy idea I might have come up with. You know all those other Jacks in the other universes you found on the other side of the quantum mirror. They're all sorry sons-of-bitches, I bet."

"Quantum Dr. Sam was nicer than our Sam," Daniel remarked, "You even kissed her."

Jack shook his head. "I felt sorry for the poor lady, Danny. She'd just lost her husband and all, for crying out loud."

"And he was you."

Jack grinned, "Sorry sad, son-of-a-bitch, I told ya'." Jack nuzzled him, "He never smelled you. Or tasted you." He felt his nerves buzz with Jack's hot breath and sighed. Jack kissed him harder, and ran his hands down the front of his jeans, feeling the object of his desire and squeezing it softly. "And he never felt ya' either, I'm telling you, he must have been a mighty sorry sight."

"The other Jack I met was cranky and rule bound." Daniel confessed.

"You betcha, and no wonder. No daily dose of Danny. He sounded like he starched his briefs." 

Daniel snickered. He'd tried to think of the other Jack, the one who wasn't too friendly and who was engaged to Carter, with red hearts and flowers on his drawers. He failed miserably and giggled. Soon, he was rolling on the bed with Jack who was stripping clothes quickly from hot skin as efficiently as if it had been a field mission. They'd pressed their bodies together with a passion that seemed unstoppable. It was still that way, even now, after three years later in a different city, in a different country and far away from the SGC. They hadn't even been aware of the upcoming storm that was about to engulf them and ultimately drive them from the SGC. 

He stood still in the hallway, thinking of all the things that might have been different if he and Jack hadn't been as close as they were. And he made a silent prayer to whatever God had pushed him and Jack together. Leaning over, he meticulously scooped up all of the letters and flyers that lay scattered like autumn leaves on the floor underneath the brass mail slot at the bottom of the door.

He thumbed through the contents and he pulled out a large postcard from Hawaii with a gaudy photograph of a volcano erupting on the front. He squinted slightly at it, and then grimaced at the name of the sender. "Wish you were here," was written in large, bold, capital letters with a black pen. He sighed. What was wrong with the woman? Didn't she ever give up or know when she'd lost? Clearly not!

He squinted at the card again. Maybe, it was supposed to be a symbolic portrayal of the mess that he and Jack had made of their lives. Daniel frowned; he'd heard that Sam was engaged to Colonel Makepeace. This card had to have come from Sam on her honeymoon. Now that was in poor taste! He didn't give a rat's ass what she thought about him, Jack or their choices in life. With a grunt of displeasure, he tossed the card back onto the table. 'Let Jack sort it out!' He thought helplessly. If being an ocean away, having a gay lover and being in forced retirement from the USAF didn't convince her Jack didn't want her, nothing would do the job.

He enjoyed living in the large duplex on Rue Victoria with the dark oak paneling, the large bay window in the front parlor and the large dining room and kitchen. He'd walked all the way home along Sherbrooke in the bright August afternoon. The humid weather made it impossible to escape from the late summer heat, but he didn't care.

He'd already loosened his tie, and tucked his navy linen jacket under his arm. The day was perfect and clear, so he'd walked all the way from McGill where he'd delivered a lecture for Archaeology 101 for the summer term. As usual, his class was overcrowded with big-eyed undergraduates who'd read about his esoteric theories on the builders of the Egyptian pyramids, theories that he couldn't back up as long as the SGC remained a well-guarded military secret. Inevitably, one or two of the bolder students might bring this up in class discussions, and ask him about the website with full-colour illustrations that had been put up by an unknown whacked-out fan of his early academic papers on the origins of the Egyptian pyramids. 

There were times when Daniel wished he'd never made that presentation at the Archaeological Society in Washington, but then again if he hadn't made that presentation he'd have never met Dr. Catherine Langford. And if he'd never met Catherine, he'd have never met Jack O'Neill. A world without Jack seemed inconceivable to him at this point. He shook his head and turned his mind away from that thought, thinking instead of his job and his students.

With a gentle but firm smile Daniel had faced his students' inquiries that morning. He did his best to suggest that his earlier theories were the ideas of a different and much younger self, and did not form the basis of his present thinking. Often, he found himself reflecting sadly on the need for doing this, and about what the real truth was, a truth which he'd never get to tell the students in his classes unless something really major changed in this world. But he was lucky and he knew it. He had Jack, a reasonably good job at a university with enough funds to go on digs to Egypt every second year and he was content. Sometimes, he missed going through the Stargate but he didn't miss the danger and the subterfuge attached to keeping their relationship secret. 

The pale blue Egyptian cotton shirt he was wearing was one Jack liked on him. Jack, he'd discerned after their first year together, didn't really like his checked shirts. Who would have known that Jack was such a closet fashion buff? If it didn't have a designer label or wasn't fashionable, it never graced Jack's lean body, and living in Montreal had just made Jack worse. When it came to clothes shopping, Daniel had discovered that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his partner's French even if his accent needed a little work. 

He hummed happily as he turned toward the kitchen at the back of the apartment. It overlooked the back garden. Under his arm, he carried a baguette from the bakery at the foot of the street. A large black leather satchel was tucked under his other arm. He moved into a singularly tuneless rendition of the Toreador Song from "Carmen". He snapped his fingers and struck a matador's pose; he had been certain that he was alone but standing on the threshold of the dining room he realized that he had company.

"Great lovey, brilliant! Had a fab day, did you?" Sarah Gardner's voice reached him from the dining room. In her voice, he recognized a unique blend of English accents - Newcastle, Manchester and Oxford. She was relaxed and stronger. She had been tested, and that test had left a stronger Sarah underneath. Tested, not simply by the horror of being host to an evil Goa'uld and its memories that had held her ins its grip, but also tested by an examination by Maybourne and the NID at Area 51 for many tiring months. Sarah had come out of it all a new woman. She'd even stopped dyeing and perming her blonde tresses. They were now what Sarah flatteringly called a 'dishwater blonde' with a slightly flattened look. 

Daniel paused momentarily. The two people in front of him brought back his memories of the SGC almost two years ago, before going on that final mission to the Goa'uld Summit. And he recalled how that mission had sealed his fate at the SGC. 

It had started with the incident with Anise's armbands. After that, things had really not been the same with his team, SG-1. At that time Sam became suspicious about the nature of Jack and Daniel's relationship. On mature reflection, Daniel wondered if there had ever been a time when Sam had really been a friend to either of the men or if she'd been out for herself from the very beginning. 

On their covert and ill-advised mission to sabotage Apophis's ship, Sam ran out of steam first because she had been the first person to try the armband out. In fact, she'd volunteered. After a day of careful monitoring by Anise, the two men had tried them. It was really Jack O'Neill's boredom and Sam's anxiety to impress Jack that had led to the mission in the first place. When she finally fell down half way through the mission, she'd hit the ground with the cry of a wounded animal. After checking that she was all right, Jack and Daniel left her gasping for breath by the front entrance of the door where Teal'c finally came to her assistance. Daniel pressed on, only to find himself caught behind the forcefield with Jack trapped on the other side. He begged his lover to leave him, but unsurprisingly Jack refused. 

"Never again, Daniel!" Jack gritted through half-closed lips as he tried to get to Daniel on the other side.

"Get out of here Jack!"

"I'll never leave you," Jack tried desperately hitting at a control panel in the archway. 

Jack's obstinacy in not leaving Daniel had made Sam more than a little jealous, but it wasn't been until the za'tarc incident that Sam became really obsessed with Jack and Daniel's relationship. She'd been in the Gate Room with the other dignitaries while Jack and Daniel were supposed to be escorted to small rooms where they were going to be tranquillized until the za'tarc threat passed. Teal'c reported to the two men that Sam seemed pleased to assume O'Neill's place with the visiting dignitaries, and Daniel had no doubt that had fate not intervened that she would have shot down Martouf without a second thought. But that was not what had happened. 

It all unraveled when Daniel had seen Jack in the hallway being led in another direction. After one glance at Jack's evasive, brown eyes, Daniel instantly knew what his partner was planning. Jack would give up anything to save him. Jack had promised Daniel he would never betray him. Jack knew that neither of them were za'tarcs. Probably, Daniel realized, Jack would offer himself up as a sacrificial lamb to prove Daniel's innocence by letting Anise's za'tarc detection machine take apart his mind and thereby save Daniel.

Later, Daniel learned from Janet Fraiser that Jack had said bluntly, "Daniel's mind is way more valuable than mine. Then he had given them permission to experiment on him, comfortable in the knowledge that Daniel's mind would be safe.

Immediately, Daniel persuaded Dr. Janet Fraiser that he knew exactly why he and Jack had failed the za'tarc test. As Anise set Jack up on the testing equipment, Daniel's crystalline blue eyes burned into Jack's dark ones. He stared at Jack trying somehow through the look on his face to make Jack understand that some essential details of the incident at Apophis's ship that each of the men had carefully omitted, essential details that might reveal the close nature of their relationship, had made them appear as though they were hiding information. 

When the two men were finally together in the same room, Daniel said clearly. "I know why we failed the za'tarc test, Jack! Tell them what you said when I was caught behind the forcefield on Apophis's ship." Anise and Janet gave both men a speculative look.

Jack flushed uncomfortably and prevaricated, "Are you sure about this Daniel? For crying out loud, we agreed that..."

"Just say it Jack!

Jack's dark eyes looked up, first viewing Dr. Janet Fraiser, and then sliding off briefly to give an embarrassed glace to Anise who was doing the za'tarc test. He coughed. "I said I'd never leave him," he said gruffly. Jack stared at the side of his brightly, polished shoe for and couple of moments, then two twin spots burned brightly in his cheeks. He looked defiantly at Janet Fraiser who simply nodded and smiled. She already knew about his guilty secret from her lover, Teal'c. Then Jack glanced over at Daniel with a worried expression, but Daniel just smiled back at him trustingly. 

Inside of Daniel, a knot of tension that had been pulled tight since the beginning of his relationship with Jack slackened. People, somebody, knew about their relationship now. It was a comfort just to speak the words even though Daniel knew that Dr. Fraiser, Anise and even General Hammond would continue to labour to keep their relationship a secret, particularly from Sam Carter who seemed to consider Jack O'Neill her personal property. 

Daniel knew that under the circumstances his voices, the interior whispers that teased their way underneath the powerful medications that sustained his sanity, could cut through his stress level and lash out. They'd say that he wasn't worthy of Jack's love. But Jack's soft brown eyes sought his out with an inner resolve and passion Daniel hadn't expected. Suddenly, Daniel's eyes felt damp. Sometimes, it was hard to believe the other man really cared for him so much. 

Anise nodded her head with a new understanding, and a smile came to her lips, "So how do you feel about Dr. Jackson?" she asked Jack softly.

Jack's dark eyes sought understanding in Janet Fraiser's face, "I care for him a lot," he paused briefly, then gathered his strength again. Jack raised his eyes to gaze at Daniel's face again. Daniel could feel the other man's feelings from across the room, "I care for him way more than I should," he concluded tactfully, avoiding actually saying that he loved Daniel. But he had fooled no one; the two other people in the room knew exactly what he meant. And they would tell nobody. 

Daniel noticed that Jack had blinked several times, and he guessed that his partner was fighting for emotional control. Daniel knew how much Jack hated losing emotional control in any situation. Janet nodded at Anise meaningfully. "I don't think that the Colonel should say any more about this at this point," she said tersely, "I'm sure you understand."

Anise viewed her test results. "You are not a za'tarc," she pronounced clearly. 

Then Daniel was tested, and the results were the same. Despite her best efforts, Sam was able to learn nothing about the results of the za'tarc tests. Later, Daniel learned that General Hammond had guessed about the relationship between the two men, but was too much of an old-fashioned southern gentleman to say anything about it.

They had made it to the Gate Room just in time to stop Sam Carter from shooting Martouf. The za'tarc incident put a damper on the relationship between Sam and Martouf, even after the Tok'ra was "deprogrammed" which took many long months. It wasn't really until the Goa'uld Summit that Daniel saw Martouf again. 

However, Daniel still felt everyone had been watching him and Jack. It was understood their closeness was because of Daniel's emotional and psychological problems. It was natural, most people felt, that the two men were closer than most friends, but he felt that Sam Carter was looking at him with a less and less friendly eye. 

Time had passed. Sometimes, Daniel felt a twinge of worry when they were on holiday far away from home. They held hands in an unguarded, emotional moment in San Francisco while watching the Gay Pride Parade. Due to his information and skill in Covert Ops, Jack had kept their homes free from bugs, but when they visited Mykynos just before the Summit they'd shared a room and one bed - not that anyone in the carefree and the sexually liberal climate on the Greek island cared about two men being together. They had just been two more revelers in the ongoing Bacchanalian festivities, but Daniel felt that something wasn't quite right. That someone had been watching them.

The situation came to a head shortly after Daniel had been appointed to go to the Goa'uld Summit as the lo'tar of the Goa'uld Lord Yu. Jack understood that Daniel was concerned about his close friend Sarah Gardner, who had been taken as a Goa'uld host almost a year ago. The poison that Daniel had been given by Jacob would kill all the Goa'uld present. And that would include Sarah - if he was lucky enough to find her.

Through his contacts among the Asgard, Jack had managed to get a different drug, a drug that would temporarily disable the symbiote in a host body for 24 hours. This would allow Daniel to help Sarah if the occasion arose. At the same time, Jack also received intelligence that Osiris was expected at the Summit as a representative of a new and powerful Goa'uld, Anubis.

The mission had gone as Jack and Daniel had foreseen, down to the last-minute arrival of Osiris as Anubis's representative. When she saw Daniel, Osiris' eyes narrowed faintly, but she waited to try and corner him in Lord Yu's quarters before saying anything.

"Daniel Jackson," Osiris observed with a sneer, "you're a rather long way from home." She pulled the dagger from her hip belt.

During the ensuing struggle in the small room, Daniel broke the small phial Jack had given him. An overpowering, flowery essence hung in the air for a moment. Osiris fell back, her chest heaving. Daniel felt his eyes smart. Osiris shook her head as though she was trying to clear it, then her head sank onto her bosom. After about a minute, her blue-green eyes reopened. But these were the eyes of his friend Sarah, and they were wide with terror. The dagger in her hand clattered to the floor. 

"Oh Danny, lovey. What are you doing here? Oh God, what have I done? What have I been planning to do with Anubis?" Sarah stared at her empty hands. "Oh Lord, I was going to kill you. I remember everything, all the things I have done in the name of Anubis. What kind of person am I? What am I going to do now?"

Daniel placed his hands gently on her shoulders, and drew her close. "It's all right Sarah. Shh, don't cry! I'm here now, and it's okay. Everything's going to be all right."

"I'm a killer, a murderer. I've done terrible things." She was shaking with bewilderment and fear.

"It wasn't you," Daniel assured her. "It was Osiris. I've put your symbiote to sleep temporarily."

"When will he wake up?"

"He won't!" Daniel assured her. "Jacob, Martouf and I will take you to the Tok'ra Base. And they'll take the symbiote out of you, just like they did for Skar'ra."

"Skar'ra?"

"You might know him as Klorel."

"Klorel, the Goa'uld son of Apophis."

"He's the one. He's my dead wife's brother. He's alive and doing well on Abydos now."

She looked up at him with surprised eyes, "You were married to a woman?"

He smiled ruefully, "Yeah, but I wasn't much of a husband to her. You were right about me, Sarah. Me and women, it wasn't meant to be. If I was really straight, I guess we'd have been more than just friends, you and I."

"But you're not here to save me lovey, are you?"

He shook his head, "No, but I told Jacob I'd try and save you. After all, you know all about Anubis's plans don't you?"

She hung her head, then looked up at him in surprise. "I guess I'm your captive then."

"Well, consider yourself captured. I'm sure I have a zat gun somewhere on me!" He smiled and stroked her hair. 

"Well, this is a right turnabout, isn't it? It's usually me telling you everything is going to be okay. You seem so strong and sure now."

"It's okay, we're going to get out of here." He told her gently.

When Daniel, Jacob and Martouf arrived back at the SGC with a very shaken Sarah who no longer had the symbiote Osiris inside her, a lot of questions had been asked at the debriefing. And that was when things really began to go sideways.

General Hammond, Jack O'Neill, Janet Fraiser, Sam Carter, Teal'c, Daniel, Martouf and Sarah Gardner were all seated around the meeting table. Jacob had stayed behind at the Tok'ra Base after Sarah had had the symbiote removed from her body. As soon as they were seated, Sam Carter began to assert her opinions. 

"What made you decide that the life of your friend was more important than your mission?" Sam demanded. Daniel and Jack were seated on opposite sides of the table, and Sam had managed to wangle a place beside Jack. That gave Daniel a cold feeling inside. "We barely got out with our lives. Lieutenant Elliot and many others died just so that you could bring your ex-girlfriend back to Earth instead of killing off the Goa'uld at the Summit. Since when do personal feelings get in the way of mission plans? This is so typical of you, Daniel! Just like on the Gadmeer homeworld when you nearly got yourself blown up in the process."

"Yeah sure you betcha', Daniel found a way out of that problem just like this one," Jack shot Sam a look of disbelief. "Daniel pulled our chestnuts out of the fire that time. As I recall, you suggested setting a bomb to exterminate the Gadmeer."

"They weren't life forms, they were slides," Sam sneered. "But why do you defend him all the time? He never obeys orders. She pointed at Daniel, "he didn't even obey orders on that first mission to find his supposed wife."

"What does that mean Major?" General Hammond's blue eyes were icy with disapproval.

"I'm sorry, sir," Sam hit the table, "But his kind don't marry women."

"What kind is that Major?" Hammond pressed, "Or have you forgotten about don't ask, don't tell?"

"What kind do you think I mean?" she spat back.

"I won't tolerate innuendos about other people in my command!" Hammond snapped at her.

"Well, you won't have to for long, sir!" she retorted. 

"What exactly what does that mean, Major?" Hammond's blue eyes were wide with anger.

Jack attempted to intervene in the discussion. "Daniel's a civilian, so he doesn't have to obey my orders, Sam. He's paid to think outside the box." He gave her a calm look, hoping that it would cool her off.

Sam snorted, "Oh, I think he's way, way outside the box, Colonel!"

"People, simmer down," Hammond advised, "Dr. Jackson did what he thought was best on this mission. And he brought us this young lady," Hammond nodded at Sarah, "who has information which will be very helpful to us."

"Samantha," Martouf reminded her gently, "the capture and death of Osiris will be a great blow to the Goa'uld Anubis." He nodded gently at Sarah, "Sarah has already proven her worth by giving us a great deal of information on Anubis's plans."

Sam snorted and looked across the table at Martouf who was seated beside Sarah Gardner, "Well Martouf, it's certainly clear your feelings for this woman have interfered with your judgment too! How can we believe anything that a snakehead says?"

"Ex-snakehead," Jack O'Neill raised his finger slightly to stop his 2IC, but she continued as if he hadn't replied to her.

"So where did you get this drug to sedate the symbiote Osiris, Daniel? And why did you do that instead of the mission, which, I might add, was so carefully planned? Or did your voices tell you what to do?" Sam giggled slightly.

The usually stoic Teal'c stared at her, "I fail to see what amusement you derive from Daniel Jackson's medical status."

"Sam," Janet said severely, "Daniel's condition has been under control for some time now with medication. That remark was uncalled for."

Jack stood up and leaned across the table, "Since you wanna' know so bad, I gave it to him for crying out loud. And I'd have thought that remark was beneath you on so many levels. Daniel has always been a valuable asset to SG-1."

"Yes. And I intend to show exactly what kind of value he has to you on so many levels, sir," Sam replied coolly. "I've invited Colonel Makepeace and Senator Kinsey to this meeting to see exactly what the heroic Jack O'Neill and the peaceful Daniel Jackson have been up to in their leisure hours."

"Sam, don't do this!" Daniel warned.

"Your warning comes a little late Doctor!" 

The people in the meeting room stared up in surprise. Senator Kinsey was on the threshold of the hallway door, which had just opened. He was accompanied by a large security detail. Jack's eyes widened as he recognized them as NID, and that meant that they had come directly from the President. "When I showed a certain videotape taken in a hotel room in Greece a few months ago to our President, President Hayes was shocked to discover how far homosexuality had penetrated our fighting forces, particularly our top-secret forces here at Stargate Command."

"Under what authority do you interrupt this meeting? Does "don't ask, don't tell" mean nothing to any of you people!" General Hammond's light, blue eyes were stern with disapproval.

"The behaviour of Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson, while they were under surveillance by the NID, negates any protection these men might expect from their commanding officer," Kinsey almost spat the words.

"I see," General Hammond's face displayed his disgust. 

"And you, General Hammond will be retired pending an investigation by the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which I am head. However, you may be unaware that President Hayes has just appointed me to the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee as well. If it turns out you knew about this situation and failed to act, your pension will be suspended. These two men from the NID will escort you off base immediately."

"I hope, sir that you know exactly what you are doing!" Hammond stood up with well-contained anger, "And who will head the Stargate Command?" 

"Brigadier General Samantha Carter will head the SGC and report directly to me." Kinsey said with cool detachment. Jack made a low whistle, and looked over at Teal'c who shook his head.

Hammond gave the newly appointed General, Sam Carter, a look that suggested that she was something particularly nasty that had stuck to the bottom of his shoe, "I see. I hope your father will be proud of your new promotion." He turned and left the room with his head held high. Kinsey came further into the room, and took Hammond's chair. Five NID Agents came into the room with him and stood behind him, entrenching his position with their physical presence. A large detachment stood outside in the hallway. Colonel Maybourne leaned against the wall with a detached expression on his face.

Sam returned Hammond's words with a self-righteous glare as he passed, "You say that you're a man with strong beliefs, sir. But I'm the only one in this place that has seen fit to exercise their faith and moral beliefs and stand out against the perversion and sin that is everywhere around the SGC."

Jack O'Neill exploded, "Ya' think? Gee Carter, I hadn't noticed that going to church on Sunday had ever kept General Hammond from being an exceptional human being, and the best commander I've ever known." 

Holding up his hand, Kinsey pronounced with utter conviction, "That's enough from you! She's the only person here who thought to enlighten me on the situation here at the SGC, and how far perversion had struck to the core of the Cheyenne Mountain. Colonel Harry Maybourne will now head Area 51, and will liaise with the SGC regarding new technology and discoveries. Ultimately, I will be responsible for making sure that Stargate Command has a good functioning relationship with our new allies."

"Brigadier General," Jack continued as his piercing, dark eyes met Sam Carter's cold blue ones, "How sweet! I guess you are the man, after all. I hope it was worth your thirty pieces of silver? So who will head SG-1?"

"That would be Colonel Makepeace," Sam said primly. Makepeace shot her a tender glance that made Daniel feel nauseous.

"But he was arrested for stealing technology from our allies. How did he receive this promotion?" Daniel asked in some confusion.

"The times have changed, haven't they Dr. Devo? You're lucky I'm not in charge of you, I can beat a weasely, little queer such as yourself into a man with the help of the spiritual guidance I've received from Senator Kinsey." Makepeace gave Daniel the same unpleasant glance that had made him wary when the man had been the head of SG-1, and Jack O'Neill had been on a covert op to catch whoever was stealing technology from their allies. 

"I'm sorry, Rob, that I couldn't get Dr. Jackson under your command. I know that you wanted to lick him into shape. But Kinsey and I agree that Daniel must leave. Doubtless, his mental illness infected Colonel O'Neill with the contagion of homosexuality."

"Wait a minute, Princess, how can you have a open relationship with Makepeace, if he's the head of SG-1?" Jack demanded.

Kinsey gave Jack a stern glance. "They made the President aware of their relationship, a relationship that I must say I consider most appropriate to an unmarried man and woman. It is a good and honest relationship that developed while Robert was still incarcerated so unfairly for his role in stealing technology that we should've tried to get from our allies, the Tollans, when they were our guests. Personally, I've found Robert's newly found belief a testimony to the power of my own faith. It both moves and humbles me."

"I bet," Jack said out loud.

"I want you to know that your cynicism does not in any way deter me from my goal, Colonel O'Neill. General Carter has made me aware of how you tried to woo her romantically to shield your true relationship with Dr. Jackson from detection."

"This is a flimsy kleenex of lies," Teal'c said with outrage.

"I think you mean tissue," Daniel suggested to Teal'c mildly.

Teal'c gave Sam a meaningful glance without looking at Daniel, "No, actually Daniel Jackson I think I really do mean a used kleenex."

Kinsey ignored Teal'c's insults, and continued speaking, "I think you should know that Colonel Makepeace has been seconded from Area 51. As far as the Joint-Chiefs and the President are concerned, the issue of chain of command is not a problem for General Carter and Lieutenant Colonel Makepeace."

"How great for you and old Bobby, here!" Jack met Daniel's eyes, "And I guess you aren't worried about our allies."

Kinsey favored Daniel with a sour smile, "Yes, as I suggested earlier those allies - the Tollan and the Asgard are presently in a state of disarray and confusion following the attacks of the Replicators as well as difficulties with a certain new Goa'uld. Other allies, such as the Furlings are unknown to us, and the Nox will not help us. We felt that making an alliance with the Goa'uld, Ba'al would be a prudent move, and in return he has promised us protection from the rising threat of Anubis."

"Neither Anubis nor Ba'al can be trusted," Teal'c stated firmly.

Kinsey shook his head, "No, in my opinion it's the J'affa who cannot be trusted. As I understand it, your people have been enslaved to the Goa'uld for thousands of years. So, I wouldn't be making any comments about thirty pieces of silver, Colonel O'Neill. You are just lucky I don't show these fine people those obscene videos of you and Doctor Jackson." Kinsey pointed a finger rudely at Teal'c's head, "I need not add that I expect Colonel Jack O'Neill's resignation on my desk by the end of the day." Makepeace moved to the end of the table facing Kinsey. He looked slightly apologetically at O'Neill. Jack tilted his head quizzically. 

Maybourne nodded at Jack, "Jack look, I've done the best I can for you and Jackson. Since you know where so many of the bodies are buried, I've convinced Senator Kinsey here, and General Carter that you are too big a risk to put in jail. I don't need to tell you that General Carter was in favor of imprisonment, but I convinced her that you are more dangerous in jail or on trial than you would be outside of the country. In return for your pension, you'll agree to go to Canada. Your mother was born in Toronto, I believe."

"Yeah, and so what Harry?" Jack tossed his head.

"So, you and Dr. Jackson will be spending your retirement in Montreal, Canada. McGill University is willing to take Dr Jackson on staff - in spite of his bizarre ideas. You'll understand when I tell you that it would be better for both you and Dr. Jackson if you didn't return to this country in the foreseeable future."

"This an outrage," Teal'c said levelly, "these men have saved this planet many times over."

"Well, that's a question of how you see things, Mr. Teal'c." Kinsey gave Teal'c a rusty smile, "You see, the way I see it, they and you have endangered the Earth over and over, and have failed to get advanced technology by any means necessary. This is the new mandate of the SGC. You, Mr. Teal'c, will be returning to Chulak as soon as possible. I strongly suggest you take Dr. Fraiser with you since it is clear that her position too has been compromised by her relationship with you. Don't think I don't know about that!"

"But I..." Janet began, "I have a daughter Cassie, here. I can't leave her here alone."

"She won't be alone," Sam said smoothly, "Cassie will stay with me."

"But Cassie is no use to you, Sam," Janet spoke up with alarm, "And I'm her mother."

"Senator Kinsey," the new General spoke in a tone of authority, "It had become apparent that Cassandra Fraiser had extraordinary, untapped mental powers a few short months ago when she entered adolescence. Although she has not displayed new abilities, it is clear that these powers might be of use to us here. I want to have the time to experiment on Cassie, to find out what more she could do for us here at the SGC."

"She hasn't demonstrated any of those powers in over six months, and even then it was only for a short time." Janet protested, "Surely, you wouldn't separate a mother and daughter."

Sam smiled, a slow, cruel smile, "As a friend, I understand you would find my decision hard to understand Dr. Fraiser. But as a General, especially a General whose mandate is to investigate any new kinds of technology, you must understand I must put the interests of Earth before those of Cassandra. Anyway, I found her. I saved her life. I am certainly as entitled to be her caregiver as you are. I'll take good care of Cassie."

"Yes, she's an alien, a Hankan as I understand." Kinsey lifted his finger considering carefully, "And we have no idea of the untapped powers of this girl. You are so right Samantha. We should keep an eye on this child." He pronounced the last word carefully.

"Sam," Janet cried out in alarm, "What do you think you're doing?"

"That's General Carter to you, Dr. Fraiser," Sam's eyes narrowed in distaste, "And don't even think about trying to find Cassie. You'll find that she's been removed from your home, and is now under armed guard at Area 51. That is, until you and Teal'c go back to Chulak and your access codes are locked out of our computer. You will find your belongings ready in the infirmary. I'll dial up the number myself to let you go. Surely, you'll find this arrangement better than a jail cell."

"May we go to Cimmeria, the Land of Light?" Teal'c questioned, placing a gentle restraining hand on Janet Fraiser's wrist.

"You may go," Sam Carter gave him an evil grin, "anywhere you want, just as long as you leave the SGC and don't return."

Janet Fraiser stood up and leaned over the table, "As God is my witness, I will never stop trying to get my daughter away from you, you bitch! And if you hurt Cassie, I will hunt you down and kill you." She got up and left the room hurriedly.

General Sam Carter laughed and raised her chin, "She'll get over it." She said heartlessly. She shot Jack O'Neill a speculative glance, "If you were willing to undergo extensive aversion therapy to deal with your problem and prove to Senator Kinsey that you had reformed and that you were not seeing Daniel any longer, I might reconsider my position on Cassandra." She tilted her head.

"No, General!" Kinsey barked out. " You may reconsider your position, but I'm firm about mine. However, Colonel O'Neill I would reconsider your position at the SGC if you were to undergo aversion therapy."

"You want me to steal technology from our allies for a living?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Steal," Kinsey steepled his fingers in a gesture of reflection, "Steal is such an ugly word when I really have always considered alien technology our surest defense. And General Carter and Colonel Makepeace" he glanced over at Sarah Gardner, "And there is that other matter we discussed." Two NID agents came into the room to stand behind Sarah Gardner's chair.

Shaking her head, Sarah held Martouf's hand, "Martouf has been helpful to me in dealing with the feelings that I've had to deal with after being host to Osiris. Surely, you of all people, Sam, would understand that. The ugly images of death and destruction - I really have nothing more to tell you."

Sam Carter shot her a withering smile, "I understand that the entity called Osiris was a Goa'uld, not a Tok'ra like Jolinar. I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew that you had been extensively questioned at Area 51 by Maybourne."

"I'll go with you Sarah," Martouf volunteered.

"I have no problem with that," Maybourne nodded briefly. General Sam Carter fixed Martouf with another look of intense dislike, and then she shrugged her shoulders. Martouf was, after all, a lost cause, another foot soldier that she would never win over. Her attention was still focused on Jack O'Neill.

"Can't I persuade you to stay at the SGC?" She asked again, now in a soft tone. It sent a shiver up Daniel's back.

Jack turned his head, and his eyes locked with Sam's for one long moment. He pursed his mouth, then he shook his head slowly as though it wasn't even worth the effort to use his breath to actually say "no" to Sam Carter. He circled around to the opposite side of the table. Daniel could feel the heat of Jack's body pressed up behind his chair. Then Jack turned Daniel's chair so that the two men were facing each other. 

Jack knelt in front of him. From his vantage point at first, Daniel could only see the top of Jack's silver brown head. Then quite suddenly strong hands took his, and the familiar head lifted and Daniel saw small, tears in the eyes of the other man. 

"The law is different in Canada, Danny." he heard a firm voice say, "What do you say? Would you marry a beaten up old soldier like me? Don't make me cry like a girl for you." The voice was faintly teasing, but there was no doubting the sincerity lying underneath the words. For just that moment, there was nobody else in the room but them. Daniel felt his heart twist.

"In a New York minute, but they haven't changed the law in Quebec yet, it's still being booted around the Supreme Court or the legislature or something like that. But I'll live with you openly, whether we're married or not."

Jack snorted, "And when the law changes?"

"If you want to," he heard his voice whisper, "You were married to Sara, and it didn't make it work better." Although he wanted to shout "yes" aloud, he needed to hear the answer to this question.

The large hands squeezed his, and he stared at the brown eyes as an actual tear appeared, "I won't say having Charlie wasn't one of the best things in my sorry life - because it was. But even if Charlie had lived, I think that you and I would have found each other anyway. We belong together, like bacon and eggs. I like men, and I love you."

"You know the answer," Daniel smiled back. You could have heard a pin drop. Daniel didn't even bother to look at Kinsey, Sam or Makepeace. Instead, he looked up at Janet Fraiser and saw tears in her eyes. He was devastated by the nature of her loss - to lose a daughter at the whim of someone you thought was a friend - it was beyond bearing.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed at Janet, and Teal'c lifted his head proudly.

Janet nodded back at him, then smiled bravely through her tears and touched her heart and pointed at him and Jack. Her eyes became darker as she drew a heart on her chest and she made a motion like breaking a stick. Teal'c took her hand.

"That's enough," General Sam Carter snarled, "No more communication. Take them to the Embarkation Room and send them on their way."

Goodbye, Janet said, moving her lips with no sound. Teal'c nodded his head.   
They were gone. Jack and Daniel were, as they always had been from the beginning, alone against the world. 

Daniel had been upset that he couldn't help Sarah, who was being taken back to Area 51 for extensive investigation, but he knew that Martouf could be trusted to help her in this situation. At the end of the day, Daniel found himself with a small paper box of personal belongings and mementoes from his five years at the SGC and one very battered leather suitcase that he'd brought with him six years earlier when he had helped open up the Stargate. Sam hadn't even allowed him to bring his wedding bowl from his short-lived marriage to Shau'ri.

He shook his head. They'd had two good years he realized, as he looked at Sarah sitting at their long, dark pine table in the dining room. She was holding the hand of the man beside her, her mouth filled with ready laughter and her blue eyes brimming with happiness. 

She looked so very different from the Sarah that he remembered from the Oriental Institute or from the Goa'uld, Osiris. He knew that she wanted to looked as different as possible from that other Sarah, and that the man beside her had helped her to do it. 

"Daniel," a familiar male voice chimed, "You're looking well indeed. Married life seems to agree with you." In two steps, Martouf was across the room. Daniel felt strong arms hug him tightly.

Daniel's face lighted up when he saw his old friend, "It's been a long time."

"Too long! It's been over two years, Daniel, since you and Jack left the SGC. And I've only managed to see Sarah for very short periods when she was doing translation work on contract for the SGC. At least, until recently. But things are going to be different now! I bear greetings from your friends Teal'c, and Janet Fraiser on Cimmeria. And from Jacob Carter as well."

A shadow passed over Daniel's face, "There's a card here from Sam in Hawaii."

"Oh, right, ducks, hand it on over here?" Sarah held out her hand. She motioned with her fingers, "And what is Missus on about now?" Sarah inquired in a sarcastic tone. "Oh look Marty, it says 'wish you were here.' Isn't our General Sammy a laugh? God, what rubbish!" 

She drew a circle in the air that Daniel knew was meant to encompass all of the SGC that General Sam Carter now ran. "That place," Sarah pushed her damp hair back from her forehead, "is a veritable hell on this Earth. I know. I was just there doing translations they won't hire Daniel to do. And I would never have completed them without your help." She nodded her head at Daniel in acknowledgement, "You can be sure of that. Which reminds me, I owe you...."

"Nothing," Daniel shook his head, "Uh uh, no, nada."

"Surely you could contribute the money to Mel's birthday fund?" Sarah left the phrase in the air.

"No, you do quite enough. Which reminds me, how did you ever get here?" He looked over expectantly at Martouf.

"You mean away from General Carter's clutches?" Martouf laughed, "It was Maybourne at Area 51. He brought me through the Gate after a mission, but I think something's up."

Nodding to herself, Sarah smacked her thigh through her light sundress, "What did I tell you? There was something dodgy about some of those artifacts we translated for Carter. There were those Phoenician tablets and the copies of some Latin poetry by Ovid that I knew had been lost for generations. I found it in a list of the things that were destroyed by Caesar's army when they burned the Library at Alexandria. Then there was that thing that looked like a Rosetta Stone, but it had Ancient on it as well. I'm telling you, our little Sammy's been up to no good." 

"There's nothing we can do about it anymore, Sarah. Jack and I are out of it for good this time. Not even a glimpse of Abydos would make me come back. And what do you mean by dodgy?"

"You know," Sarah got up restlessly, and looked out the back window that had a view of the garden, "I wondered if Sam was using the quantum mirror, some of the objects seemed as though they shouldn't be here, I mean in this reality. It was really the lost poetry of Ovid, that did it."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything. And any passing visitor to Earth could have picked up some of Ovid's poetry that has become lost to us in the intervening centuries. No, the mirror was destroyed. Anyway, what possible use could Sam Carter have for it anyway? Most of the realities out there wouldn't have anything we need."

"You don't know that. There could be other societies, other worlds, that the Goa'uld did not defeat and which have developed technology," Sarah said quietly.

"That's true. But I guess I'd assume that they would have some way of stopping us from coming to them through the quantum mirror."

"What if you'd opened the gate sooner or something?" Sarah tilted her head speculatively.

Daniel smiled and spoke brightly, "Or something. I wasn't thinking about myself at all - I'm not that egotistical."

"But in other realities, the Earth was controlled by Goa'uld." Sarah protested.

"String theory postulates that there are more dimensions out there that we can't see. It is also possible that there could be an infinite number of realities out there," Daniel murmured. Then he shook his head, "I'm probably dreaming. Is Jack in the back garden? " 

"No Danny, Mel is in the back garden with Charlotte."

He went to the window and watched as his six-year-old daughter Mel played in the sandbox. She was being solemnly supervised by Charlotte, Jack's black and white Border Collie. Mel had come to live with them after the death of her two fathers, Patrick and Cliff, and her birth mother Sandra as well as her grandfather in the twin towers on September 11, 2001. When Jack and Daniel had offered to be her guardians, neither one of them had ever imagined that Mel would ever actually come and live with them. She had three parents and one grandparent - and all of them had died in one day. 

Daniel was particularly protective with Mel because he knew, from personal experience, how difficult it was to pick up the pieces after the death of parents. The little girl had been at a daycare near ground zero, but she was too young to absorb the impact of what had happened at the time. Nevertheless, Daniel felt that ongoing therapy was the key to normalizing Mel's life. 

Their quiet life in Montreal, along with their tiny cottage at Lac Brule, had made Mel's life much easier. Even if it were possible, because of their responsibility for Mel, the two men would never accept a post as hazardous as working permanently with SG-1 ever again. The little girl could not have survived the loss of two more parents in her young life, as Daniel put it, and he knew that Jack agreed with him.   
As he watched, he could see that Mel was completely absorbed in building sandcastles, and was using the dog to imprint the top of each sand tower with a paw mark. 

With infinite doggy patience, Charlotte put up with this and other indignities from her young charge, but Daniel understood that if either Mel made even the slightest move toward the fence, the dog would pull her back by the seat of her pants to the sandbox. Moreover, anyone making a move toward Mel would be taking a big chance. Charlotte was a stand-in for Jack at this moment, minus the knife Daniel knew Jack still kept in his boot. Daniel had gotten over the urge to get Jack to be weaponless because he knew there was no way that the soldier inside in Jack would leave ever leave them totally unprotected. 

"Jack went up to Sherbrooke Street to Patisserie de Gascogne." Sarah blushed slightly and glanced at Martouf.

"Patisserie de Gascogne, we must be really celebrating! What's going on?" He looked over at Martouf who was wearing a slightly, foolish grin. Daniel folded his arms in front of him in a gesture of mock concern.

Martouf laughed, "I know I missed your wedding, but we didn't feel we could wait."

"You old dog," Daniel smacked Martouf's hand, "When?"

"We got married on Cimmeria last week." Sarah took Martouf's hand. "Janet and Teal'c were there." Just then, he heard the front door open, and the approach of feet. Funny, there was somebody with Jack.

"Oh I really miss Janet and Teal'c," Daniel sighed and looked over at a dark figure looming in the doorway.

"You need miss us no longer, Daniel Jackson," a dark molasses voice reached him from the doorway. Daniel froze for a moment; it had been so long since he'd last heard that voice. 

When he looked up he saw Teal'c standing in front of Jack. His hands were weighed down with bags containing dinner, patisseries and other delicacies with the distinctive gold labels on the box. It must have cost Jack a fortune, Daniel thought idly. 

Janet appeared around the corner of Teal'c's shoulder. She was wearing a short, black halter-top and lightweight summer pants with a light jacket. In a smile and a heartbeat, she was across the room.

"Daniel," the smile on her beautiful face reached to the corners of her dark, serious eyes. " You look better than I would've ever dared to hope when you first came back from Abydos. The change since you left the SGC, well it's remarkable."

"It's honest living, Janet. For crying out loud!" Daniel practically lifted the small, doctor off her feet, "I thought I'd never see either of you again. What are you doing here?"

"We come bearing tidings of good fortune," Teal'c replied calmly, "As O'Neill well knows."

"Jack?" There was an open question in Daniel's voice, "We promised that we would never do anything risky because of Mel."

Jack nodded, "This won't be risky, you betcha'. Or not too risky. But it is necessary and long overdue."

"Your countryman, Kinsey, daily lowers Earth's reputation among the J'affa, the Asgard and the other free and fighting peoples of the universe. The time has come for you to win back the esteem that you have lost."

Daniel sighed, "How can we go up against General Carter and Kinsey, Jack?"

"We have a secret weapon, Danny."

"What is it?" The others exchanged meaningful glances, and a familiar, once despised voice, spoke out with some force.

"I'm afraid I'm your secret weapon, Dr. Jackson. And if I won't do, perhaps this letter from President Jed Bartlett might convince you. He is behind the offer I've come to make to you." Harry Maybourne came into the room. He was, unlike any other time Daniel had seen him, wearing a simple navy suit.

Jack smiled, "And there's more Daniel, much, much more."

Daniel looked at Mel in the back garden, and was suddenly afraid, "What about Mel?"

Jack stood beside Daniel, "Danny, I can't promise that this will be a hundred percent safe. I'd be lying to you. But we don't have to get involved unless you agree after talking to Harry here, watching a tape from the President and listening to some guests that will be arriving in about an hour. So, I suggest that we break out the good china and cutlery and bring Mel in for dinner."

A half an hour later, after Daniel had watched a live interview on his television with the new President of the United States and listened carefully to his request, he wasn't sure what to think. 

Bartlett had requested their help in bringing down General Carter, and entrapping Senator Kinsey. It was clear that the new President elect had been shocked to discover just after his inauguration, that they had a top-secret program that involved contact with other worlds. He was still more shocked to discover that over the past two years that that program had been responsible for the wanton destruction of several worlds, including one place called Kelowna that had blown itself up with naquadria, an unstable form of naquadah. It seemed that General Carter had bought a large supply of this naquadria, but had never informed the citizens of the danger of their weapons program.

Then Bartlett faded out, and they were watching some footage from the Gate Room at the SGC. The footage was about five days old, if the top right hand counter was accurate. It seemed that General Carter had been experimenting with the quantum mirror, just as Sarah Gardner had feared. 

The film showed a foggy clip of a longhaired, Dr. Sam Carter, the same woman who had come through the quantum mirror six years earlier. Now, she was being shoved roughly through the mirror by SGC Marines who were clearly disguised for the mission. Daniel thought he recognized some of the faces. Daniel had learned a lot about these things from Jack through the years. One of the Marines, Colonel Herbert, pushed Dr. Sam to the ground roughly when she didn't move quickly enough for his taste. 

Then General Carter appeared in the picture. Clearly, she'd emerged from the control room. "Don't damage the merchandise," she snapped, "I need what's in her brain. Take it easy. I had to go to a lot of trouble to get her here."

"What about the problem with Entropic Cascade Failure?" Daniel asked when Bartlett again appeared on the screen.

"According to our inside sources, General Carter has a device that can guard against that." Bartlett said soberly, "She obtained it from a world where there had been no Dark Ages and well, I guess Dr. Jackson you can guess the rest of the problem. On that world, Captain Carter was the second Sam Carter that General Carter kidnapped."

"Absolutely, Sir," Daniel nodded, "If this is true, Jack, then this unknown Captain Carter has the power to turn our world upside down."

Jack scratched his head, considering, "I remember once you said something about the Dark Ages and how they'd held us back technologically."

"Yeah," Daniel nodded at the President, "If they had never occurred, we would have been far, far ahead technologically."

Jed Bartlett shook his head grimly, "I can see you appreciate our predicament, Dr. Jackson. We can't afford to let whatever this General Carter discovers from her other selves in parallel universes endanger our world. It is clear that one of these worlds is years and years ahead of us. But Colonel Maybourne, if you play the final clip from Russia you will all see what I'm talking about."

This time the film showed a clip of the Russian Gate, which was no longer in water. What appeared to be a man and a woman in dark brown camouflage with dark knitted toques were coming through the Stargate. There was a lot of movement in the Russian Gate Room, and Colonel Chekov appeared in the frame briefly, followed by Doctor Svetlana Markov. There appeared to be a lot of yelling in Russian from the woman on the left. She was obscured by Doctor Markov who was obviously questioning them intensely.

"Remember her?" Jack said sarcastically, "A scary woman."

"Shh Jack, I'm trying to read Markov's lips," Daniel said with a trace of asperity. "Why can't the Russians have mics in their Gate Room."

"Because that would make sense," Jack observed, "Okay, what's she saying?"

"She's asking them who they are and what they want? It appears that the man on the right is I think, a Colonel Mitchell. I don't think he can speak Russian because all he's said in Russian is "Don't shoot."

"Words to live by, Danny!" Jack observed.

"Yeah," Daniel made an impatient gesture, "But the woman is saying plenty. I wish Markov would move, then I could see her face. Oh, my God! Look Jack!"

"Yeah I see, are you okay?"

Daniel was white to the lips, "That's not possible. My parents only had one child - me, and they're dead. That woman just said she was Doctor Claire Jackson in Russian, and she's got to be around five years younger than me." The camera panned in for a view of the face of the woman before it cut out. She lifted her head for a few seconds, and Jack had a view of the same intense blue eyes of his partner. 

"Good guess Dr. Jackson, she's five and a half years younger than you. And in her world, your parents are not dead. She's come looking for Captain Samantha Carter who was taken from the SGC in her world over a week ago. She was taken from their infirmary at the same time as their Janet Fraiser was shot and killed. She has an interesting story to tell." Maybourne indicated the screen of the television.

"And the young bird Colonel?" Jack nodded at the young Colonel with his head.

"Colonel Cameron Mitchell. He's an interesting case. Don't sell him short because of his youth. He wants to talk to you. And only you."

"Me?" Jack lifted an eyebrow.

"You're their commanding officer in their reality." Maybourne said, "They have refused to speak to anyone but you. However, they are accompanied by Markov, who has insisted her country remain in the loop."

"They are coming here?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"This footage was taken just over five days ago. They should be here, at any moment."

At that moment there was a knock at the door. Daniel was sure that he could hear himself breathe. Two people he'd never seen before stood on the threshold of his living room. They were wearing light street clothes. The woman and man stared at Jack and then at Daniel.

The woman nodded, "It's him, Cam." Like Daniel, she had light brown hair, and blue eyes - but her nose was larger, just like he remembered his mother's had been. She was, however, years younger than the mother who has scolded him for interrupting their work just seconds before she was crushed by the large cover stone. He stared at her, and her eyes began to tear up at the same time as his.

"Danny," she said breathlessly, "it's you. It's really you! Oh God, in my world you're dead." She moved in close, so close he could smell the familiar odour of his mother's soap.

"You look like just like Mom," he said wonderingly. He hesitated a moment, then he swept her into his arms for a hug. Then he looked down her serious blue eyes. Like his Mother, Claire's dark hair was slightly messy and she had large, white front teeth. She wasn't exactly pretty, but she had an animated, intelligent face. "What do you want?" he asked her.

She looked over at Cameron who nodded. "Three weeks ago, a detachment of soldiers from another SGC came through the quantum mirror at my SGC. They killed Janet Fraiser, and took Captain Sam Carter prisoner. General Jack O'Neill sent us through the Stargate to find you. We knew we'd be going through to Russia. We decided that the portal in Colorado wasn't safe, so we went to Russia."

"But the Stargate doesn't open dimensions into parallel universes," Daniel interjected, "unless it can move through more dimensions than just space."

"Do you know about string theory?" Claire asked Daniel, "Because we use the Stargate, not the mirror, to travel to other dimensions and parallel universes. Right now, we know that General Carter still can't do this."

"Sort of - vibrating open ended or closed strings, more dimensions to space than we can see," Daniel said vaguely, "It's not really my thing. Anyway, you are saying that the Stargate can do more than open up a wormhole and move between Stargates?"

"Yes, the Stargate can do much, much more. The Ancients created it. I'm not a theoretical astrophysicist, but all you need to know is that properly calibrated, the Stargate can move between parallel universes and dimensions."

"What about Entropic Cascade Failure?"

"We have a way to stop that problem," Claire said, "And we also know how to find the dimension where the Ancients went. We just don't go there."

"Oh peachy, right when we need a Carter to explain things, we have a shortage." Jack shook his head, "So with the help of your Captain Sam Carter, General Carter will be able to..."

"Join the Ancients, yes sir," Cameron added, "But if beings from one dimension of space/time interferes with another dimension space/time too radically, then," he interlaced his fingers, "boom. You end up with a dimensional space/time facture that causes a time warp. That is why the Ancients rarely interfere in our world. And we don't ask for their help."

"Boom? Boom?" Jack questioned succinctly, "What do you mean boom?"

"The barriers between dimensions will break down. You will find five parallel Jack O'Neills in the same room with you at the same time. The barriers between thought and reality erode, and in all worlds they will soon stop being able to distinguish between what is real and what is thought." Cameron explained, "It would destroy your reality and all other realities as well."

"Ya think?" Jack asked sarcastically. "But you also said your Daniel was dead?"

"More or less." Claire said, "He died on a planet called Kelowna. But another Claire in another reality we discovered told us that Daniel will eventually return to us."

"Kelowna, isn't that where they had that accident?" Daniel interrupted.

"Our Daniel prevented that." Cameron said quietly, "He saved millions of lives."

"So, how do we know that your Captain Carter hasn't revealed all of this already to our General?"

"We know that General Carter is still working at gaining complete control of all the aspects of the Stargates," Cameron Mitchell told him, "Although right now she can only gain access to different realities through the quantum mirror."

"How do you know this?" Daniel asked curiously.

"The Stargates in some realities are sealed to visitors from other realities, unless you can figure out how to bypass those seals. General Carter is trying to gain access to the dimension where the Ancients live because she believes, like Anubis, that this will mean that she lives forever and have infinite power. Our Carter can't hold her back forever. Your Carter is a still a Carter after all, and will eventually realize how she can break through these barriers." Claire explained.

"Yeah, not to mention the holes in time that she can create," Colonel Mitchell added.

"By all means, we mustn't forget the holes in time. This is all giving me a headache!" Jack complained, "And you, Svetlana, you think that all this is true?"

"Scientifically, it makes sense in terms of cutting-edge theoretical astrophysics," Svetlana Markov nodded, "We would not have come if we had not believed that this was a genuine problem." 

Jack shook his head, "But you still haven't explained how you people know all of this."

"Well sir, in our reality SG-1 travels between parallel worlds and investigates parallel dimensions," Mitchell added, "It was agreed by the Interdimensional Time/Space Counsel that we should come to your reality and stop your General Carter."

"By any means?" Jack lifted one eyebrow.

"Yes sir," Cameron nodded significantly.

"So, you'd kill our Carter?" Jack asked bluntly.

Dr. Markov interrupted, "We must do what is necessary Colonel. Clearly, General Carter's desire for power has become a threat."

Jack nodded, "I believe you Svetlana. But my little inner voice says that flyboy here and Dr. Jackson 2 have some motivation other than eliminating evil Sam. By the way, what are you a doctor of, Claire?"

"I'm an archeologist," Claire told Jack.

"No surprise there," Jack muttered.

Daniel looked pleased initially, "So what did you specialize in?"

"Postholes, ancient buildings and material life."

"Postholes? Material life?" Daniel said indignantly, "What kind of Jackson are you, anyway? Even Nick wasn't interested in postholes or textiles!"

"Well, look how far that got him," Claire huffed.

"Daniel, don't argue with your parallel universe sister, it isn't nice. I'm sure Claire," Jack balanced on his toes, "has a lot to say about potholes and ancient buildings."

"Postholes, Jack," Daniel corrected.

"Sure, whatever, campers. Let's not fight. But you guys still haven't explained why you were chosen to come here."

"Well, Captain Carter is her wife, sir," Mitchell said without blinking.

"I see, and Dr. Fraiser?"

"She was Claire's other wife."

Their Janet giggled, and looked over at Teal'c who gave her a stern glance.

"How many wives do you have Claire?" Jack asked wearily.

"Just the two. We live in a polyamorous society, sir."

"That means that they are all married to each other," Daniel explained, "This is very interesting, Jack. I'm dying to find out how it works."

Jack gave him a deflating glance, "Yeah, I can see that. Just keep your interest - academic, Danny."

"Oh come on Jack, you must be kidding," Daniel protested.

"I've never been more serious on so many levels. Wanna' keep you just for myself." Jack said firmly.

Claire rolled her eyes upward and sighed. She looked at Mitchell who smiled back at her, "So many realities, so few Jacks." She shook her head.

Jack looked at her, "Aren't you confused by all this polymorphous stuff, Doc?"

"Polyamorous, and no not really. Right now, I'm completely clear that one of my wives is dead and that the other is under the influence of a version of Sam that as far as I can tell is completely evil. I know what I have to do. I'd just feel a whole lot more comfortable if..."

"You helped us out," Mitchell threw in.

"Exactly," Claire nodded.

"She has a point," Daniel told his partner.

"Yeah, yeah. And who are you married to, Mitch?" Jack asked.

"I'm only married to one woman called Vala, but she used to be host to a Goa'uld. She's a lot for me to handle sir."

"How restrained of you, Colonel!"

"With due respect sir, you haven't met my wife. You always say that in most realities, we've encountered unless you've already met Vala."

"Sure you betcha'. I just can't imagine being married to more than one person." Jack looked over at Daniel. He sure wasn't sharing his Daniel with anyone.

"You always say that dir, and of course you're usually married to the same person too."

"So, Jack is married to Sam in most realities," Daniel said quietly.

Mitchell gave a Daniel a piercing glance, "Uh, uh - I sure wouldn't say that at all!"

Daniel spoke out, "Well, when I went through the quantum mirror on P3R-233 the Jack O'Neill I met was with a Dr. Sam Carter. And another Dr. Carter visited through the quantum mirror, and she had been married to Jack."

"That's only two realities," Mitchell pointed out carefully. "In some realities, I don't join the SGC for several years, but that isn't the norm."

"But we've got other things to worry about besides our relationship, don't we Mitchell?" Jack asked bluntly.

Cameron straightened up and cleared his throat, "Well yeah. We have a lot of reasons to worry, sir. Dr. Sam Carter from Alternate Reality 5 is accomplished in the use of the quantum mirror. Since your General Carter has already begun to pillage the technology from a number of realities, including ours, we need to worry about the damage she can inflict with that technology. We're also aware she might find another version of Dr. Claire and Jack O'Neill, who are out there and who have psychic abilities. Those abilities would give General Carter a great deal of power - and change the outcome of history."

"I thought using the quantum mirror was relatively easy," Daniel observed.

"There are some realities that are harder to reach than others." Mitchell explained, "Many are shielded, including our own. Unfortunately, Dr. Sam from Alternate Reality 5 has made it possible for General Carter to find a way around those shields. And this is a problem."

Jack sighed, "You're gonna' have to put Danny's mind at rest here, Colonel. Tell him who I'm married to in your world."

Claire looked startled for a moment, and then looked at Daniel. She shook her head. "He's so like my Daniel. Well, you are usually married to Jack, Daniel. In eight realities out of the eleven that we've visited," Dr. Claire told them. "And nobody else, not even in my world. It's very sweet, monogamy is so old-fashioned." At that, Teal'c cleared his throat, and Janet Fraiser stifled a laugh.

"He's obviously not me," Jack denied, "I'm not sweet."

Teal'c coughed, and Dr. Svetlana Markov appeared amused. "The President has some more words for you Colonel O'Neill," she said precisely.

"Just for me?"

"Well, for everyone, but you and I will be needed especially." She fixed him with her dark eyes, "You and I know how to fight dirty."

Everyone gathered around the television in the living room, and the live feed came back on.

"So, Jack you've thought it out, seen who and what we're up against - will you and Dr. Markov help us out?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders, "Why me? I'm just an ordinary foot soldier in this war."

Bartlett laughed. Daniel had heard that the new President had charm, but until this moment he'd never believed how this could work. "Come on, Jack. You and I are men of the world. You have Dr. Fraiser there; she knows the infirmary inside out. You have J'affa to help you with this problem - which I don't mind saying has been pure hell since Carter took over this position. Then you have Dr. Jackson, the resident genius. And of course, our rather angry visitors from another parallel universe. How can you resist?"

"Very easily," Jack said smoothly.

"But you're not going to, I hope. I need a good man to run the SGC. I need you, what are you and Dr. Jackson going to do about it?"

"We're gay citizens, we don't count," Jack said blandly.

"I'll make you count," Bartlett continued, his eyes aflame. "What do you say?"

"Only if Daniel says yes," 

Mel had came downstairs in her pajamas, carrying her teddy bear in her arms, "Daddy Daniel, aren't you going to help save the world again?"

She sat in front of him on the sofa and he kissed her soft hair, "Maybe, Mel. Just maybe."


End file.
